Are Boss guitar multieffects crap in the studio?

carl-anton · #1 05-16-2005, 11:07 AM

Dunno if this hit the right forum. I don't get to these parts that often. Well, my band are starting to prepare for our next record, and I've been thinking about our guitarists sound. Actually I like what he does a lot, so I don't want him to do anything different, it's just that I have a suspition that it could be even better. The thing is that he's using a Boss GT-3 multieffects board, and everytime I talk to soundengineers, producers etc, they allways say how much they hate multieffects boards because they suck tone, and doesn't sound as good as... whatever, - I'm not a guitarist, so I don't know what else to get

So, do you think there's any problem in using the GT-3 for recording? Or is it better to investigate some standalone pedals. He uses almost all the effects from the board including the overdrive/distortion. He plays a rare something guitar through a Fender tweed combo. His sounds are mostly inspired by bands like slowdive etc, and his pretty picky about his sound, and not allways that open to new ideas, if you know what I mean.

Have I been misled by prejudicing people, or is multieffects a no no in the studio?

Any experiences or views would be welcome

Thanks

Peter Squire · #2 05-16-2005, 12:38 PM

Hmm. from the top? i personally wouldn't use the line out from the amp, or guitar pedalboard as my only guitar track. In very simple terms, a guitar needs area to distinguish its sound. A hotted up amp, in a small (or big) room and some spacial mikes, with some experiment, will sound awesome. 'Course, im an analog kid.

As far as your guitarist not willing to listen to you??

Hullo!

DaftCat · #3 05-16-2005, 01:09 PM

Hey,

At least the guitar player is picky about his tone.. That is a good thing.

I sorta second the FX racks sucking the tone. I had a BOSS GT-6B and I returned it for that reason.

Get the guitar player to talk to the engineer himself and see if they can come to terms in what works best for everyone.

Your record, your rep, your sound...

carl-anton · #4 05-16-2005, 01:26 PM

Thanks for your views. We never record line out from the board. Allways the sound from the board through his amp. He'll listen to anybody (also me

), just no point in raising the tension in the band, if what he does is ok. I've been doing that to much I think, so that's why I asked for your opinions.

CultParadox · #5 05-16-2005, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaftCat

I sorta second the FX racks sucking the tone. I had a BOSS GT-6B and I returned it for that reason

I am starting to think about purchasing some pedals myself... My guitar-playing brother has the GT-6, and I really like the look and feel of it, but in studio, the engineers knocked it as well. That said, in my (new) band's studio, mic'ed with an SM57, that thing sounded phenomenal to my ears. But I digress: are you saying that Bypass feature of the Boss GT-6B is ineffectual?

winston · #6 05-16-2005, 06:11 PM

I have a Boss GT-3 that I use for geetar and the treble side of my Chapman Stick. The FX themselves (reverb, delay, flanger, chorus, etc.) sound just like the individual Boss FX BUT the preamp models get pretty noisy especially when combined with the distortions, even on low-gain settings.

This noise is noticeable when recording direct and you're playing long sustained notes. You can get some great tones through bypassing the preamp models and plugging the output into a good guitar amp.

It's possible to get horrendous sounds from multi-FX especially if you use the overblown factory presets and aren't careful about signal routing (i.e., running a modeled preamp/speaker setting into the front end of an amp instead of the FX return). I don't use the presets and I start from a clean tone, adding only the FX I need. The GT-3 (and other Boss guitar units) are great because 1) They have an external FX loop you can put anywhere in the chain--I have no idea why Boss left this off the GT-6B; 2) Any internal effect can be put anywhere in the chain; 3) Any parameter can be assigned to any pedal.

There's a fairly steep learning curve in getting these things to sound good, so I can understand why many engineers shudder when confronted with them.

Slurm · #7 05-16-2005, 06:17 PM

my gt6 is a big hit in the studio, and i think its pretty good. easy to get a good sound. most recordings ive engineered the guitarists and bassists use it too.

carl-anton · #8 05-17-2005, 02:54 AM

Ok, that's very usefull to hear for me. Sounds like multieffects aren't that bad at all. I think I'll let the guitarist do what he feels most comfortable with. That's after all the most important thing in making a good recording. Besides I'm pretty confident that he's on top of that pedal. He's had it for a long time and done a lot of experiments.

Thanks all. Keep posting